VT brewers support bill that would cut beer tax

Matt Cohen, brewer at Fiddlehead Brewing in Shelburne (left) talks with John Kimmich, Alchemist brewer, Thursday morning at Queen City Brewing. The two brewers were at an event in support of the Small Brew Act, federal legislation that would lower the excise tax on beer per barrel.(Photo: SALLY POLLAK/FREE PRESS)Buy Photo

A who's who of Vermont brewers hung out at the bar at Queen City Brewery Thursday morning, including: John Kimmich of the Alchemist, Matt Cohen of Fiddlehead, Paul Sayler of Zero Gravity, Tommy Noonan of Vermont Pub and Brewery and the host — Paul Hale of Queen City.

A non-brewer was also at the Pine Street brewery Thursday morning: U.S. Rep Peter Welch, D.-Vt. The group gathered in support of bi-partisan legislation, introduced in the U.S. House earlier this year, that would reduce the federal excise tax on beer.

The Small Brew Act would cut in half the tax per barrel, from $7 to $3.50, on the first 60,000 barrels of beer produced. The tax rate on 60,000 barrels to two million barrels would go from $18 to $16.

A brewer such as Fiddlehead, which produces about 5,000 barrels of per year, would save $17,500 each year.

"Fifteen thousand dollars is a lot of money for a small brewer," Sayler said. "It matters."

Hale and his partners opened Queen City in June. The brewery is on pace to produce about 1,000 barrels in a year.

"This is really important to us," Hale said after Welch spoke. ... "We get taxed early and often."

Hiring people and providing "meaningful jobs" has been the most satisfying aspect of his endeavor, Hale said.

Vermont has 41 breweries, almost of all which produce fewer than 60,000 barrels of beer a year. Magic Hat and Long Trail produce more than 60,000 barrels of beer a year, according to the Brewers Association, a trade organization based in Boulder, Colo.

Brewing is a $200 million industry in Vermont.

"This is an emerging industry," Welch said. "It has a real shot of being a strong contributor to the local economy."

The benefits of the craft beer industry encompass local agriculture and food movements, as well as job creation, he said.

Noonan is general manager of Vermont Pub and Brewery, founded in 1988 by his uncle, the late Greg Noonan. It is Vermont's first brew-pub.

Although the Pub and Brewery would not be greatly affected by the legislation — it doesn't distribute a significant number of kegs — Noonan spoke after the event in support of the legislation and its broader impact.

"We do employ about 65 people, give or take, we do buy local foods," Noonan said. "We buy local hops, we buy local malts. So the amount of economic drive that creates is hard to calculate — it's so expansive."

The value of Vermont beer could be embodied in a beer on tap now at Vermont Pub and Brewery, Tammie Brown Ale.

The beer is made from 100 percent local products, including the hops and malt, Noonan said. It is named for Tammie Brownell, the pub's longest-serving employee. She has worked at the brew-pub on College Street for 25 years.